Our Company Blog

Our Partners: Bishop Hearth & Home

At Coopertown Services, we are proud to join together with several local businesses. All our partners provide our customers with high quality services and products. One of our local partners is Bishop Hearth & Home, who provides high-end, name brand building products and supplies for architects, builders, decorators, and their clients.

About Bishop Hearth & Home

Bishop Hearth & Home is a second generation, family owned business that has been serving the Nashville and Memphis areas since 1974. With a commitment to high quality brands and materials and superior customer service, they provide an unmatched experience to their clients. Likewise, their wide variety of materials and products allow them to serve as a one stop shop and showroom. Customers looking for everything from masonry fireplaces to outdoor shutters or custom closets can find everything they need.

Isokern Fireplaces and Chimney Systems

One of the unique products that we are proud to offer our customers are Isokern fireplaces and chimney systems. In the past, homeowners had to choose between customizable masonry fireplaces or easy to install modular units. Isokern fireplaces combine these two properties to give homeowners unprecedented choices when it comes to their new fireplace.

Isokern fireplaces are manufactured in Chesapeake, Virginia with a unique volcanic stone. This material provides immense insulation with lower levels of weight and bulk. Likewise, the building material used in Isokern fireplaces do not expand and contract in heat. This helps it to be a more durable and long-lasting building material.

Customizing Your Isokern Fireplace

Unlike most manufactured systems, Isokern fireplaces can be customized to meet your home’s unique style and heating needs. Isokern units can be installed both indoors and outdoors, allowing homeowners to add warmth to their homes or create a unique outdoor living space. The dual modular refractory chimney system also allows us to install Isokern fireplaces almost anywhere in your home. This zero clearance chimney system minimizes the space required between the chimney and the rest of the home, allowing for broader installation options.

Likewise, Isokern fireplaces are customizable with a variety of building materials. Use brick, stone, tile, and stucco to finish your fireplace and create a unique focal point. By partnering together, Coopertown Services and Bishop Hearth & Home can provide our customers unprecedented service when designing and installing their new Isokern fireplace system.

Why Shop Local

Supporting another local business benefits both our customers and our community. Hiring local keeps dollars in the local economy. In addition, it ensures you are working with someone who understands the unique needs of families in middle Tennessee. Local businesses also help keep our communities vibrant and thriving from generation to generation.

At Coopertown Services, we are proud to partner and work with local businesses such as Bishop Hearth & Home in order to provide our customers with high quality services and products. For more information about Isokern fireplaces or the other products that Bishop Hearth & Home offers, contact us today.

Closing Out Your Fireplace and Chimney for the Season

Spring has finally arrived, and after a cold winter many homeowners are looking forward to enjoying longer days and warmer temperatures. If you are done using your fireplace for the season, however, there are a few things you want to do to ensure your fireplace will be ready to use again next fall.

Closing out your fireplace and chimney for the season is a good way to ensure your entire fireplace system is in working order for the next burning season. The following are four ways you can help close out your fireplace system this spring.

Clean and sweep the fireplace

Cleaning out the firebox is a chore that few homeowners look forward to. However, it is especially important that the fireplace is completely cleaned out at the end of the burning season. In addition to removing any remaining soot and ashes from the firebox, consider using a Shop Vac to get into the nooks, corners, and crannies of the fireplace. Fireplace log racks, ash containers, and other fireplace tools can also benefit from a thorough spring cleaning.

The chimney can also benefit from a thorough spring cleaning. Having your chimney swept at the end of the season can remove any buildup that occurred over the course of the winter and leave your fireplace system ready for next fall.

Inspect the chimney

Freezing temperatures combined with moisture from ice and snow can do serious damage to your chimney system. Water damage from the freeze-thaw cycle can cause masonry to crack and spall in as little as one season; a chimney inspection at the end of the season can identify any new areas of damage that occurred over the winter. Likewise, a chimney inspection can be a useful tool in identifying the cause of ongoing chimney issues such as odors, drafts, leaks, and more.

Turn off the pilot light

While the heat production on gas fireplace can be adjusted for year round use, many homeowners discontinue using their gas fireplaces during the warmer months of spring and summer. If you do not plan on using your gas fireplace for several months, you may want to consider turning off the pilot light. When the pilot is lit it continuously burns gas; while the amount of energy it uses is small, you may be able to save money in turning it off when the fireplace is not in use for several months.

Close the damper

Leaving the damper open when the fireplace is not in use can affect the air temperature in your home and raise your cooling costs during the summer. To avoid losing conditioned air up the chimney – or having unconditioned air come into your home – ensure the damper is closed completely with an air tight seal. If you can still feel air passing through the flue when the damper is completely closed, the damper may need to be replaced.

The burning season may be drawing to a close, but by taking the time to close up your fireplace system it will be ready to use again in the fall. For more information on how to close your system for the season or to schedule chimney services contact Coopertown Services today!

The Value of a CSIA Cerified Master Chimney Sweep

When choosing a chimney maintenance company, certifications and professional credentials matter. For many homeowners, hiring a CSIA certified chimney sweep was a way to ensure that a highly trained professional was caring for your fireplace in chimney. However, the CSIA recently expanded its credential offerings to include “Master Chimney Sweep,” a new distinction available only to a few of the best chimney sweeps in the country.

What is a Certified Master Sweep?

For many years, holding a Chimney Safety Institute of America, or CSIA, certification was the highest professional accreditation in the chimney and fireplace industry. In 2016, however, the CSIA expanded its credential offerings to include “CSIA Master Chimney Sweep”.

“This credential identifies the best of the best”, said Mark Stoner, CSIA Board President. “The individuals hand-selected for this honor have consistently proven themselves in the industry and have truly gone above and beyond in their efforts to stay at the top of their field.”

The Master Chimney Sweep credential represents the highest – and most difficult to achieve – level of certification for chimney sweeps. While the CSIA Certification is earned through a testing and education process, the Master Chimney Sweep certification is done through an application, vetting, and interview process by the CSIA Board of Directors. In addition, potential applicants for this certification must already hold a CSIA Certification for at least ten years.

Why work with a certified chimney sweep?

Fireplace and chimney maintenance is about more than just ladders, brushes, and vacuums; true, effective chimney maintenance requires education, training, and an extensive knowledge base. Because of this, homeowners should always work with CSIA certified chimney sweeps.

To earn a CSIA certification, sweeps must pass a certification test that includes subject areas such as building codes, EPA efficiency standards, and best practices for cleaning, inspecting, and maintaining a variety of heating appliances. In order to maintain this certification chimney sweeps must retest every three years; this ensures that all certified sweeps are up to date on the latest safety and technology standards in the industry.

Working with a certified chimney sweep goes beyond training and professionalism; earning a CSIA certification requires chimney sweeps to adhere to a code of ethics. For homeowners, this means that you can trust you are receiving fair and honest service at competitive prices.

At Coopertown Services, we pride ourselves on providing our customers with a variety of high quality chimney and fireplace services. Whether you have animals in your chimney, need your fireplace rebuilt, or need an inspection before buying or selling a home, our highly trained staff of chimney sweeps can provide you with the best service the industry has to offer.

Using a certified chimney sweep ensures that you are working with a true industry professional. A Certified Master Chimney Sweep, meanwhile, is one of the most experienced and trusted professionals in the country. If you are in the Shelby County area and are ready to trust your chimney maintenance to a Certified Master Chimney Sweep, contact Coopertown Services today.